Box Score (Game 1 - Princeton 8, Cornell 7)
Box Score (Game 2 - Cornell 8, Princeton 4)

PRINCETON, N.J. -- The Cornell baseball team finished the Ivy League schedule with a split of a doubleheader at Princeton on Sunday, falling to the Tigers, 8-7, in the opener, but rallying for an 8-4 victory in the nightcap. Cornell closed out the league slate with a 9-11 mark after taking three of four from Princeton this weekend.

Kyle Groth went 4-for-9 with two runs scored and one RBI to lead the Big Red offense on the day, as Cornell batters combined for 15 runs on 14 hits and capitalized on eight walks. Frank Hager scored three runs on the day despite going 0-for-6 with three walks, while Brian Billigen drove in a team-best three on the afternoon.

On the mound, Matt Hill and Rick Marks both worked 3.2 scoreless innings of relief, with Marks picking up his work in the opener and Hill working in game two. David Rochefort also worked a scoreless inning, while Brian Billigen started game two and allowed four runs in 4.1 innings but struck out seven, and Taylor Wood gave up eight runs in the opener, working just 2.1 innings. Cornell pitchers combined to strike out 22 Princeton batters on the day while issuing just five walks.

Cornell (17-20, 9-11 Ivy League) got an early run in the opener, with Mickey Brodsky scoring when Hager reached on an error, and Groth drove in Hager from second to give Cornell the 2-0 lead after a half-inning. Unfortunately, Princeton (12-30, 6-14 Ivy) jumped on Wood early, with Brian Berkowitz hitting a three-run blast to right field to give the Tigers the lead.

The Big Red reclaimed the lead with three runs in the second, with Mike Lopez driving in Marshall Yanzick with a double to left-center, and Yanzick scoring when Mickey Brodsky hit a sacrifice fly to center. On that sac fly, Billigen, who reached second on a sacrifice bunt by Matt Langseth, scored when the throw from center was off-target, giving the Big Red a 5-2 lead. That lead stood until the bottom half of the inning as Princeton evened the score with another pair of runs in the bottom half of the second. John Mishu had the key hit, a two-run single with two out, but was thrown out trying to stretch his single to a double.

Following a 1-2-3 inning in the third for the Big Red, the Tigers ended Wood's day with another three runs in the bottom of the third. Berkowitz hit his second home run of the game, a two-run shot, and Andrew Whitener scored on a single to right by Brandon Englert. Marks then came on and shut down the Princeton offense, allowing just three hits over the next 3.2 innings.

Cornell cut into the lead with a pair of runs in the fifth, when Hager walked and scored on Nate David's double to left-center, and David scored when Yanzick hit into a fielder's choice, making the score 8-7. Princeton's Matt Grabowski came on and shut down the Big Red offense, as he didn't allow a Cornell baserunner over the final two innings for the save.

In game two, the Big Red got on the board first with three runs in the second inning, as Billigen hit a three-run home run with two out to stake Cornell to a lead it would not relinquish. Cornell added another pair of runs in the third, as David and Groth scored when Mike Lopez reached on a throwing error. David then hit a double that scored Hager in the fourth to give Cornell a 6-0 lead after four innings.

Princeton's offense came alive in the fifth, as three doubles, three walks and two sacrifice flies scored four runs to cut into Cornell's lead and chased Billigen from the contest in favor of Hill. Hill worked in and out of trouble, allowing a pair of baserunners in the sixth and seventh and one in the eighth, but kept Princeton off the scoreboard until being replaced by Rochefort in the ninth. Rochefort got a pair of strikeouts and allowed one walk in the ninth to close out the contest.

Cornell's other two runs came in the sixth and the seventh innings. In the sixth, Matt Langseth doubled, moved up to third on a fly ball out and scored on a wild pitch. In the eighth, Groth doubled and scored on a single by Jerry Vitiello.

Cornell will now close out the regular season on Thursday with a single game against Ithaca College at 4 p.m. at Hoy Field.